Jan. 19, 2012 issue

Jan. 19, 2012 issue

January 19th, 2012 issue

Chairs of debt commission outline plan by Margot Tuchler THE CHRONICLE The United States’ debt will have drastic consequences unless policymakers take major steps to alter the current fiscal path, said the co-chairs of President Barack Obama’s bipar- tisan budget commission. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co- chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, discussed efforts to address the federal budget crisis Wednes- day in a presentation titled “Decision Time: Bowles, Simpson and the Federal Budget.” Moderated by Phil Bennett, Eugene C. Pat- terson professor of the practice of journal- ism and public policy, the discussion outlined Bowles and Simpson’s plan to balance the budget by 2015. “I believe if Congress and the administra- tion don’t wake up, we face the most predict- able—and the most avoidable—economic cri- sis in history,” Bowles said. “The fiscal path we are on is not sustainable.” Obama appointed Bowles, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clin- ton, and Simpson, former senator from Wyo- ming, as co-chairs of the 2010 commission, which was charged with generating policies that would balance the nation’s budget. Ben- nett, former managing editor of The Wash- ington Post and current managing editor of Frontline, said that Bowles and Simpson have SEE DEBT ON PAGE 4 ELYSIA SU/THE CHRONICLE Michele Norris, co-host of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” speaks Wednesday evening in Reynolds Theater. Norris uncovers hidden racial histories by Charlie Haley THE CHRONICLE A National Public Radio host is pulling the race card—and she is do- ing it to illuminate the nature of race relations past and present. Michele Norris, co-host of NPR’s longest-running news program “All Things Considered,” spoke at Reyn- olds Theater Wednesday as part of the Race Card Project—a nationwide initiative accompanying her current book tour that asks fans and audienc- es alike to submit their thoughts on race in six words or less. “‘Underneath, we all taste like chickens,’” Norris read, noting that of out of thousands of submissions, this one-liner stands out as one of her fa- vorites to date. In her remarks, Norris also dis- cussed her recent book, “The Grace of Silence: A Memoir.” Norris’ lecture, sponsored by the Baldwin Scholars Program, focused on stories of Nor- ris’ family members before the civil rights movement and what the radio host terms as the “hidden conversa- tions on race.” “[I want to convey] the importance of family history and finding out your own history, of your family and com- munity,” Norris said in an interview. “There’s a story that’s in the history books, with a capital H, and then there’s a personal history.” Norris said she dived into her own family history after her uncle acciden- tally referred to a family secret, which revealed that her grandmother used to dress as Aunt Jemima and travel across America performing marketing dem- onstrations for Quaker Oats. Norris SEE NORRIS ON PAGE 4 Scientists prove ability to split charge of electron by Yueran Zhang THE CHRONICLE A recent simulation by a group of physicists has proved that it is possible to split the charge of an electron in half. The researchers, including Matthew Hastings, associate professor of physics, used supercomputers to show that under certain conditions, a collection of particles could take on one half of the fundamental charge of an electron. This marks the first time that a collection of particles has been identified with partial properties of the fundamental particles, suggest- ing new lines of inquiry for condensed matter physics. The results were published by Hastings and his colleagues, Sergei Isakov of the University of Zurich and Roger Melko of the University of Waterloo in Canada, who are working the Large SEE ELECTRON ON PAGE 10 Caffeine intake may boost intelligence, study shows SEE COFFEE ON PAGE 10 MELISSA YEO/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO A recent local study shows that the consumption of caffeine can enhance the activity of synapses in the brain. by Ashley Mooney THE CHRONICLE Dispelling any negative connotations of the phrase “coffee addict,” a recent local study shows that the substance might increase intelligence. Scientists have found that caffeine enhances nerve cell connections in the brain—synapses— which are scientifically considered to be the cel- lular basis for learning. Serena Dudek, a senior investigator in the Neurobiology Laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the Research Triangle Park, said that although the findings are notable, the degree to which the study applies to humans is still unclear, given the biological differences between humans and the study’s test subjects: rats. “Effects of caffeine on memory in humans are The Chronicle THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 79 WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM DSG approvesDSGapproves discount program,discountprogram, Page 3Page3 WilliamsWilliams leads BlueleadsBlue Devils onDevilson the road,theroad, Page 5Page5 ONTHE RECORD “I wish I could talk to her, chew her out, ask her why. But I don’t even know if it’s illegal, what she did.” —Mia Lehrer in “A bad case of the willies.” See column page 8